Darkthaw

Winterkill #2

by Kate A. Boorman

For as long as Emmeline can remember, she’s longed to leave the isolated world of the settlement and explore the wilderness that calls to her in her dreams. And now that the Council has fallen, she will finally, finally get that chance. With First Peoples guide Matisa at her side, Emmeline rallies a brave group to join her on her quest into the unknown, including her beloved Kane and his two younger brothers.

But the journey soon proves far more dangerous than Emmeline anticipated—with warring clans, slavers, colonists, disease, and natural disasters seemingly at every turn. After putting so many lives in danger, she starts to doubt everything she once knew. Did she make the right choice to leave the settlement—and can her relationship with Kane survive the ordeal? Matisa insists that to set things right and to fight the evil that is bringing all this danger and turmoil to the forest, Emmeline must journey to Matisa’s people—even if that means leaving Kane behind.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopia, Romance, Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy, Mystery

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2015

About the author

Kate is a freelance writer and artist from the often-frozen Canadian prairies. She has a nice family and a well-indulged travel bug. She also has an irrational fear of birds, so when you visit, please leave your bird at home. But do visit.

www.kateaboorman.com

Reviews

[Maria Dimitrova · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up the first book at a bookstore on my very first trip abroad and loved it. So I'm surprised that I didn't pick darkthaw up sooner even if only for sentimental reasons.

The book isn't something brilliant, it lacks the freshness of Winterkill but it was a good read. I think I'm a bit too old for it because I found Em a lot harder to relate to than what I remembered. Her struggles are real and I could see myself making similar choices had I been 18. But the decade I have on her gives me a very different perspective and I would have handled things differently. But she's a more or less likeable main character and my heart broke for her at the end. I'm really invested in the story now and can't wait to get back into this strange dystopian world.

[Ligaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado más que el anterior, es mucho más dinámico.
Los personajes principales son los mismos, me siguen gustando más Tom y André, y en este caso les he cogido cariño a Daniel y a Isi. Cualquiera que haya leído el libro, tiene que estar sorprendido de esto, dado que no son personajes determinantes, por decirlo de alguna manera. A Kane no le termino de coger el punto.
Ha sido un aspecto positivo el que hubiera más acción y el que cambiara la ubicación, porque ha estado bien conocer más ese mundo,aunque hubiera agradecido que apareciera un mapa
En resumen, es una buena segunda parte, aunque sigo pensando que es una trilogía al que le falta algo de chispa.

[Carina Olsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried really hard to like this book. But it just wasn't meant the be. Aw. I really wanted to like it more than book one, yet I ended up liking it less. Which is just so disappointing. Especially since the first time I read book one I loved it. Aw. But not this time around, sadly. I seemed to have issues with this book at all times. Sigh.

I'm not sure how to write this review of mine. I'm giving this book two stars. Because while I didn't like it, I also didn't fully hate it. I enjoyed some parts of the plot, but for the most part I disliked it all. I just did not connect to anything. I found this book to be silly and just boring. I didn't care for the girl at all. Was disappointing.

I really wanted to enjoy this book a lot. And it makes me so sad that I didn't. But there was just no way for me to like it. Sigh. I felt like this book didn't make much sense, and it annoyed me often. I liked the writing in book one, but in this one it bothered me a lot. This book was describing way too much. It made my head hurt a bit. Sigh. This book is also from the point of view of Emmeline. While I sort of liked her in book one, I sadly didn't like her much at all in this sequel. I found her annoying and selfish and oh so childish too. I think she was supposed to come off as fierce at times, but she really wasn't. I strongly disliked how she treated some people. Like Kane at times. And Charlie. The ending with Charlie bothered me a lot. She didn't make the right choices.

This time my review will not be long. Because I really don't know what to say about this book. I had many issues reading it. I just wanted the book to end. Sigh. I'm still going to read book three, though. Because I am sort of curious about what will happen next, yet also not really curious at all. Book one at least had a plot. I wouldn't really say that this one had a plot at all. It only takes place in the forest, where they are traveling to find Marisa's people. It was sort of interesting to read about, the forest parts. But not enough.

As I said, I didn't really like Emmeline at all. She was so selfish. Like, she wanted Kane to be with only her, she didn't understand why he wanted to stay with his two really younger brothers and his mom. She didn't understand why he would chose them over her. And that bothered me like crazy. She was not a person that felt for others. She just seemed to want herself to be happy. Sigh. I hope she's better in book three, but I sort of doubt it. I don't think I will grow to like her more. But I do have a small hope, even so.

I wish I could say that the romance was good, but it really wasn't. They share a few kisses. I felt nothing. Nothing at all. Emmeline is always going on about feeling moths in her stomach while looking at Kane.. and I found that to be so cheesy and silly. I didn't get their feelings for each other at all. I still haven't seen them talk to each other for real. I wish I believed in their romance, but I still haven't seen any reason for why they should love each other. Ugh. I wish the romance had been better. I simply didn't care for it at all.

There are other characters in this book too. Like the other girl, Matisa. And I didn't really get her at all. Didn't know her either. She just showed up in book one, having dreamed about Emmeline, and Emmeline dreaming of her. And this was another thing that made no sense to me at all. Emmeline can dream the future, or whatever. Parts of her dreams are written down, and they just felt really silly to me. I just didn't understand the point of it at all. Sigh. And didn't understand her friendship with Matisa either. Wish I had.

I'm not sure what else to say about this book. So I won't say much more. I wish that it had been better, I wish that I had liked it more. But I guess this book just wasn't for me. Which is just all kinds of depressing, because I really thought I would love this series, as I loved book one years back, but not this time. Sigh. It's just depressing, lol. I wish it had been better. But it wasn't. I had lots of issues with this book. But I do think that maybe others will enjoy it a lot. And I do think you should give this trilogy a chance. If you wish.

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This review was first posted on my blog, Carina's Books, here: http://carinabooks.blogspot.no/2017/0...

[Andria Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, don't mind me I'm just sitting here waiting to get my hands on book three as I cry my eyes out over character deaths.

TW: graphic violence, brief torture scenes, descriptive sickness, starvation, list things as I think recall it

[Océano de libros · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emmeline continua con su afán por saber qué es lo que les depara más allá del asentamiento y ahora con el Consejo fuera de línea decide marchar junto a Kane y sus nuevos amigos al lugar de donde proviene Matisa y ver dónde la llevan los sueños de ambas.
Esta segunda parte ha estado fluctuando para mí constantemente, la primera mitad del libro es algo tediosa, no vi que avanzara nada la trama, tenemos a una Emmeline algo desesperante que junto a su nueva e inseparable amiga Matisa se disponen en un viaje de “descubrimiento”. Se me hace raro esta amistad, es repentina y a veces no entiendo las motivaciones de ambas, es obvio y simple lo que quieren pero su autora como que lo quiere complicar y el tiro le sale mal. Aparte de esto y de sucesos que veo que son innecesarios me ha gustado el giro que ha dado el personaje de Isi, me ha gustado mucho (quizás es lo más memorable del libro) junto a Tom y me ha decepcionado enormemente el personaje de Kane, sinceramente creo que no era necesario este fallido intento de relación a tres bandas, se ha cargado mis simpatías por el personaje de un plumazo. La segunda parte de la novela sí ha estado mucho mejor y la lectura mejora, nos volvemos a enganchar.
Cosas negativas que no me gustan de esta novela: quizás esas descripciones extensas, el excesivo uso de términos, el trato al personaje de Kane y una desesperante Emmeline, porque eso sí tiene la novela, Em es una protagonista que desespera y va dando bandazos por diestro y siniestro.
En definitiva, esta segunda parte me ha parecido simple y predecible, la autora intenta enrollar una trama que me da a mí que va a ser un fracaso, creo que a lo mejor soy yo que ya me parecen todas las distopías iguales, pero tendrá que mejorar bastante la tercera parte para darle el aprobado.

[Honzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5*

Mozek ví o tolika nedostatcích, ale srdce prostě nemůže poslechnout :3 I přes takovou spoustu much mám tuhle sérii strašně rád. První půlka byla sice trochu slabší, ale ta druhá to plně vykompenzovala a potřebuji vědět, kdy vyjde závěrečný díl!

[Aleri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gusto mucho el primer libro pero este me decepciono y quito mis ganas de continuar con la trilogía.

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. I tried through the first novel. I cannot try anymore. DNF 30%

[Gonzalo Mendiverry · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 bastante mejor q el anterior.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know what? I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this book when I saw it up on NetGalley, however I found myself to be very surprised by it. So even though the book was a quick read for me, but overall, I came to really enjoy this book. The writing and the characters alone were definitely the main part of that enjoyment so I was quite surprised by this new title and I'm looking forward to seeing what other readers think of this one and not to mention I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

*nods in approval*



4.5 stars!

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DARKTHAW is equally as engaging as its predecessor (WINTERKILL). Kate Boorman delivers another compelling & incredibly suspenseful chapter in Em's quest for new life.

The cast of characters are well-rounded and multi-layered. Watching each of them grow and undergo significant developments was thrilling. I am particularly impressed with the ways the author uses Em's dreams as a device for foreshadowing and driving the story forward.

DARKTHAW is a page-turner. I look forward to reading the final installment later this year. *Hint, hint...* ;)

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Just like the first book, Winterkill, I was quickly sucked into the world of this frontier prairies gone wrong alternate history. Emmeline and her companions leave their settlement on an important journey to Matisa's First Peoples, but things quickly go wrong... Emmeline's feeling are well-portrayed and gripping.

[Hana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dala bych 3,5 hvězdy. Není to špatné. Má skvěle napsané pasáže, a pak místa, že bych bušila hlavou do zdi. Nevím, jestli ji netlačil čas.

Každopádně Kanea nemůžu ani cítit. Prostě mi k ní nesedí.

Ale na třetí díl se těším. Příběh jako takový dobrý. Těším se na rozuzlení. Více v recenzi na Chrudimka.cz

[Steve Altier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could not get into this story. Book #1, Winterkill was great, I was so excited to get this one in the mail and start reading. Only to find out it was nothing like I thought it would be. Needless to say, I won't be buying book number 3.

[Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Thoughtful, eloquent and unafraid to tackle difficult questions, I'm so glad I took a chance on this series.

[Gabriela Retana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 / 5
.
.
Es mejor que el primero, bastante mejor a decir verdad.
Los personajes evolucionan un poco y si, hay veces en que Em saca de las casillas al lector por ser terca, pero es comprensible lo que intenta hacer.
.
No llegue hacer mucho click con los personajes pero ninguno me fastidio o me cayó mal, al contrario, entendía sus porque de las cosas que hacían ...
Hay avance, desarrollo de los personajes, no se quedan estancados en lo necios que son, en mi parecer Kate hizo un buen desarrollo del clima para que sus personajes cambiaran poco a poco pero de manera perceptible.
También entre las relaciones de los personajes hay avances y retrocesos, no todo es amor entre ellos y apoyo... pero le da buenos giros a las relaciones, por lo menos no las hace tan superficiales.
.
.
recomiendo esta trilogía, es buena para pasar el rato y para ser una distopia también es buena, si creo que la escritora haya cogido cosas de algunos libros como Divergente y Maze Runner (si llegan a leer la trilogía entenderán por que digo esto, no quiero hacer spoilers), pero su desarrollo es bueno.

[LilyElfgreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

velmi důstojný druhý díl. i když je to takový ten typický výpravný příběh (hrdinové se musí dostat z jednoho místa na druhé, ale na cestě na ně neustále číhají nějaké nástrahy), pořád se něco děje a čtenář se nenudí.

[evi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from ABRAMS Kids, Amulet Books, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Darkthaw by Kate Boorman was indeed an interesting read. It was filled with very beautiful writing, conflicted characters, and peculiar influences. I won't say it was my favorite read, but it was certainly unique.

I actually didn't realize that this was a sequel to her first novel, Winterkill, until afterwards, but the book still wasn't much of a problem to understand. Emmeline, or Em as she is known, lives in a settlement that, until recently, believes they are the last people alive. They had recently been plagued by a sickness that they believed was from a monster, but then Matisa, Isi, and Nishwa, some of The First People, come along and explain that it was from a river. Matisa has been dreaming of a great danger, and believes that she and Em need to stick together. Em at first is torn between her love, Kane, at the settlement, and the promise of adventure with her new best friend, but her own dreams call her with Matisa. (Eventually Kane comes with her, along with some of the other settlers.)

The whole "dream" thing was very interesting- you could tell that dreams were considered important in their society. The First People also relied on dreams to guide their path- Isi and Em end up bonding over Isi's dreams.

The world that Ms. Boorman created was incredibly involving- it immersed me from the very beginning. I was drawn into her aspects of their adventures in the land immediately. The colonial aspects were also very cool- the Dominion are trying to settle the land, like England. Basically. The settlement and the slave-camp

While the world was my favorite part, I can't say the same for the characters. They all seemed fairly three-dimensional, but they just weren't exactly interesting. I liked them...but in the "I-don't-think-I'd-care-if-you-died" kind of way.

Also, the formatting on my Kindle Touch was kind of really bad- the picture things that would go with the start of each chapter were randomly scattered throughout the book. :(

So. Bottom line? If you liked the first book, you'll probably like this, and either way you could read it. But read it for the world, not the characters.

Rating: 3 smilies

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winterkill, the first in this series, was one of my favorite books of 2014! I loved the "Village" vibes it gave off and even enjoyed the uncertainty of the setting. Darkthaw picks up right where Winterkill left off, with Em and Kane planning their future and being generally confused about most things. This was a sequel I have really been looking forward to and I hoped to feel the same about book two as I did about book one. Unfortunately, this one didn't quite do it for me.

I'm not sure what changed before books one and two, but I felt like I had a hard time connecting to Emmeline this time around. I know that people are probably inherently selfish, but she made some decisions in the first half of the book that I had a hard time accepting. I did really enjoy Matisa, however! She was a fantastic character who honestly didn't seem to have a flaw whatsoever. Kane remained one of my favorite characters also and I really felt for him as he tried to find his path in life.

I did really enjoy the new world that opened up in this installment. Emmeline and Kane decide to leave their settlement when they learn that there's much more out there than they'd originally known. The introduction of other settlers really upped the tension and mystery and continued this series as extremely unique. I feel like I was able to place the location a little better this go round - I'm guessing somewhere in Eastern Canada.

My main issue with this book was the writing. The author has used a really strange dialect which, on the one hand, makes it unique, but also makes it really laborious to get through at times. The story was also quite slow, which is why this book took me sooooo much longer to get through than the first. I feel like book one had a very quick series of events that progressed easily, while this one was a lot of traveling, horseback riding, and talking.

Darkthaw definitely had its ups and downs. I really appreciated the original story and the new characters, but the writing and unsympathetic main character made it less great than Winterkill. I'd recommend this to someone looking for a very unique dystopian who's read everything else!

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this sequel to Winterkill. When I started it, I was a bit tired of the voice of the MC Em and thought it would have been interesting to have book 2 from Marita's perspective. By the time I good to the end of it I was well over Em's intensity and constant introspections, anxiety and self-doubt.

This book was harsher than the first with higher life and death stakes. Some of the conflict between characters felt forced (e.g. misunderstandings between Em and Kane). I will be interested to see how the trilogy winds up.

This book/series would appeal to fans of Moira Young's Blood Red Road.

[Lenka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost 4 stars. I was wondering where the author will take the story after ripping off Village in the first book. It is not a bad book. Some scenes are great. But overall, nothing special. And there really is not that much going on. Good read nevertheless and the translation is quite good.

[The willow tree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im still in shock over how many emtions this book managed to make me feel right from the bat.
Truly could not put it down and had my heart pounding at 3 am because i NEEDED to know what happened next.
I am so in love with the story, the mystery behind it all still, the dreams, the fighting, the learning,the growing, the love...
I cried a little, and i was so incredibly stress over some of the decitions Emmeline took or was taking, some chapters had me at the edge of my seat... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
We have a recurrent theme here and it is that nothing is quite what it seems and whenever you think you do, they show you dont. AT ALL.
Isi has won over my heart, and so has little Daniel. Matisa we adore, and we honor those who have left us. I sobbed a little.
Im so incredibly excited once more for what else is in store for us, since, well... i still dont understand a single thing but i trust... I sense something is cooking and cooking well for the next book.
Im quite enjoying these, even tho i didnt think i would. I cant put them down.

[Moth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was worried I wouldn't enjoy this book as much as the first in this series, but god was I wrong. I loved the added tension that this story had and getting to see the world expand to be so much more than once was thought. The character development was brilliant and Boorman really impressed me with how multidimensional they all were. I really came to love Isi and Tom especially, which is something I didn't expect after they were relatively small characters in the first book. The emotional depth was brilliant and I enjoyed the inner monologue of Em. I also enjoyed seeing the relationship between Em and Kane develop further, and though the ending did sadden me a lot.

I really loved this and needless to say I'm going to order the final book right now!

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars. We have here a rare occasion of a sequel (or second book in a trilogy if you prefer) actually being better than the original. I liked Winterkill a lot. I think it did some really refreshing things. But Darkthaw expands the world and gives us a thrilling "journey" plot. Now it's not perfect. Things are touched upon and nothing is really done with them (I assume the third book will go into more detail, though). There are a few characters that should have had more of a presence. It would have made what happens later have more weight. But overall, I really enjoyed it. Really looking forward to the last book.

[Rei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Segunda parte de esta trilogía que nos cuenta las aventuras de Em ahora fuera del asentamiento donde creció y todas las situaciones por las que tienen que pasar en su camino de empezar una nueva vida en un lugar nuevo y desconocido para ella. Tal vez las cosas no son como las esperaba pero ella tiene el poder para seguir adelante.

[Stefanie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the sequel to Winterkill. I liked the first book better, but this book was still okay. There might be another sequel.

Emma follows her dreams, and Matsia (of the first people) out of her settlement to find a new life. The journey is far from easy with people she meets along the way and peril at every turn.

[Anne Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this book after Winterkill but found it a test of perseverance; much like the plot of the book itself. The psychological darkness seemed unrelieved at times.

[Keeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of getting annoyed with Em. But oh well, I've committed now.

[Lucie Aran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oproti prvnímu dílu poněkud slabší, , ale ani tak to nebylo špatné, některé pasáže byly horší, jiné se skutečně povedly. Prostě takový průměr. No uvidíme, jaký bude další díl.

[Carol Sandford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting second instalment. Enjoying going aong with Em's plight along with her tag alongs. Off to read part three....